Monthly Archives: November 2011

And (O Muhammad SAW) recite to them (the Jews) the story of the two sons of Adam (Hâbil and Qâbil — Abel and Cain)] in truth; when each offered a sacrifice (to Allâh), it was accepted from the one but not from the other. The latter said to the former: “I will surely kill you.” The former said: “Verily, Allâh accepts only from those who are Al-Muttaqûn (the pious – see V.2:2).” (27) If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I fear Allâh; the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinn, and all that exists).” (28 ) Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours, then you will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong¬doers).” (29) So the Nafs (self) of the other (latter one) encouraged him and made fair¬seeming to him the murder of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers. (30) Then Allâh sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him to hide the dead body of his brother. He (the murderer) said: “Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of my brother?” Then he became one of those who regretted. (31)Al Maida 5: 27-31

After Adam a.s. and hawwa r.a. met each other again on earth, they began their life as family. They have children and have farms and sheep to herd.

Hawa used to give birth each time to twins: a boy and a girl. And she gave birth many times. This was the beginning of human population on earth.

The rule to be married among them is to couple the boy from the first pregnancy to the girl from the second pregnancy and thus the boy from the second pregnancy to be paired with the girl from the first pregnancy.

Adam and Hawa’s first son is Qabil, twinned with a girl and second pregnancy, they had Habil twin with a girl.

What we gave for the sake of Allah must be the best that we have and with our best efforts.

Qabil became very angry and threatened to kill Habil. “I will kill you so that you do not marry my sister!” Habil responded to Qabil,

“Yet if you stretch out your hands against me to kill me, I shall not stretch oyt my hand to kill you, for I fear Allah, the Lord of the world.”

Habil was actually stronger than Qabil, but he did not try to kill Qabil nor did he defended himself.

Finally, Syaitan did get to dominate Qabil and Qabil murdered Habil. And this became the first murder committed on earth.

Animals in the Quran

Then Qabil became confused for he did not know what to do with his brothers body. That was the first dead body in the world so no knowledge of burying the dead was known.

Allah then sent down two ravens. The two birds were fighting each other until one of them died. The killer bird then dug a hole in the ground to bury the dead bird. This thought Qabil on how he should bury his brother. Therefore it was a guidance and an inspiration from Allah to Qabil.

Then Qabil buried Habil. He then said,

“Woe to me! Was I not even able to do as this raven thus burying my brother?” He became full remorse” Al Maidah 5: 25-31

After burying Habil, Qabil regretted what he had done for he had transgress.

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Lessons from the Story – The first Murder

1. That jealousy when it is not controlled can lead to disaster. Astaghfirullah.

In this story, Qabil’s jealousy was overwhelming him. Shaytan who is quick at identifying our weakness and can swiftly got all over us and whisper us to transgress.

2. Undoubtedly as human, we have jealousy. We seek refuge with Allah to protect us from the evil of Shaytan. Try to channel our jealous energy to something positive. It is hard and it is a struggle. But trust me the disease of jealousy can degenerate you. You will always be doubtful of other people and your heart will never be at peace.

3. Qabil’s rejection of Habil’s twin sister started because of jealousy and arrogant. Thinking he is better for his siter compared to what Allah commanded to. Can you think of a being of the same nature?

This as we know is the attribute of the cursed shaytan. Qabil wanted his beautiful sister for himself and rejected Allah’s order.

4. Be jealous for the purpose of Allah. Be jealous if that person has memorise the whole of Quran and we must try to memorise it for the sake of Allah. MAke your jealousy a healthy one and not compete unhealthily.

5. In whatever we do, we must be muttaqun. Allah only accept the deeds of the muttaqun.

Look at the examples of both Qabil’s and Habil’s sacrifice. And why Allah only pick Habil’s sacrifice. Habil has put his heart to his produce and his fear of Allah made him sincere in his ibadah. This is what we want. Can you imagine all the good deed that we do will not be accepted by Allah because we have notaqwa?

Remember we talk about having ihsan in the things we do? Do our utmost best, fear Allah and pray for Allah’s mercy on us.

6. The Quran describes a lot of stories on how animals play a role in human’s life. In the story of Habil and Qabil, Allah sent ravens as an inspiration to Qabil on how to bury the dead.

7. This story describes the evil end and the consequences of envy and arrogance.
<blockquote>Book of Blood Money

Bukhari :: Book 9 :: Volume 83 :: Hadith 6

Narrated ‘Abdullah:</blockquote>
<blockquote>The Prophet said, “No human being is killed unjustly, but a part of responsibility for the crime is laid on the first son of Adam who invented the tradition of killing (murdering) on the earth. (It is said that he was Qabil).</blockquote>

We must be aware of becoming the initiator of a bad deed for the chains of isns will go back to us just like all murders will go back to Qabil.

Today we are going to learn about the adab of waking up from sleep. For now we’ll focus on actions that follows the sunnah when waking up from sleep. On the following lessons we will look on ayatul quran that Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam read when he wakes up.

1. Wipe your face when you wake up.

Ablutions (Wudu’)

Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 4 :: Hadith 183

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas:

that he stayed overnight in the house of Maimuna the wife of the Prophet, his aunt. He added : I lay on the bed (cushion transversally) while Allah’s Apostle and his wife lay in the length-wise direction of the cushion. Allah’s Apostle slept till the middle of the night, either a bit before or a bit after it and then woke up, rubbing the traces of sleep off his face with his hands. He then, recited the last ten verses of Sura Al-Imran, got up and went to a hanging water-skin. He then Performed the ablution from it and it was a perfect ablution, and then stood up to offer the prayer. I, too, got up and did as the Prophet had done. Then I went and stood by his side. He placed his right hand on my head and caught my right ear and twisted it. He prayed two Rakat then two Rakat and two Rakat and then two Rakat and then two Rakat and then two Rakat (separately six times), and finally one Rak’a (the Witr). Then he lay down again in the bed till the Mu’adhdhin came to him where upon the Prophet got up, offered a two light Rakat prayer and went out and led the Fajr prayer

Lessons

1. Wipe your face when you wake up

2. Take note that in the hadith, it also says that he recite certain part of surah Imran. And then he made ablution

The Book Pertaining to the Remembrance of Allah, Supplication, Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness (Kitab Al-Dhikr)

Muslim :: Book 35 : Hadith 6549

Al-Bara’ reported that whenever Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) went to bed, he said:” O Allah, it is with Thine Name that I live and it is with Thine Name that I die.” And when he got up he used to say:” Praise is due to Allah, Who gave us life after our death (sleep) and unto Thee is resurrection.“

We will remember this dua’, Insya Allah.

3. Brush Your Teeth

Ablutions (Wudu’)

Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 4 :: Hadith 246

Narrated Hudhaifa:

Whenever the Prophet got up at night, he used to clean his mouth with Siwak.

It has become my habit to have a glass of water before I brush my teeth. It is not in the sunnah (at least the one I know off). But Insya Allah we should brush our teeth before taking wudhu’.

4. Snuffing water into nose

Do you know that when you sleep shaytan likes to sleep in the upper part of your nose? Alhamdulillah, now that we know, when we take wudhu’ Insya Allah we will snuff in water properly.

Beginning of Creation

Bukhari :: Book 4 :: Volume 54 :: Hadith 516

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “If anyone of you rouses from sleep and performs the ablution, he should wash his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out thrice, because Satan has stayed in the upper part of his nose all the night.”

5. Wash Your Hands

Wash your hands before you take wudhu and do everything else.

The Book of Purification (Kitab Al-Taharah)

Muslim :: Book 2 : Hadith 541

Abu Huraira said: When anyone amongst you wakes up from sleep, he must not put his hand in the utensil till he has washed it three times, for he does not know where his hand was during the night.

The sunnah of waking up Insya Allah.
1. To wipe your face
2. To read the du’a of waking up
3. To recite the last ten ayahs of Al Imran
4. To wash your hands three times
5. To brush your teeth
6. To snuffle water onto your nose which is also part of wudhu’

It is prohibited to eat and drink from vessels made of gold and silver.

It is reported on the authority of Abu Hudaifaj that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam said,
“Do not drink from gold and silver vessels and do not eat in plates made from such metal. Indeed such things are for the disbelievers in this world and for you (the believers) in the Hereafter. (Al Bukhari and Muslim)

This hadith mentioned here to show that if it is prohibited to eat and drink in gold and silver utensils, then using gold and silver utensils for ablution is also prohibited. (Bulugh Maram)

Even though there are many different opinions of the scholars concerning taking ablution from gold and silver plated taps, it is best that we stay away from it. Thus reminding ourselves not to use such expensive item for the toilet!

Narrated Umm Salama, Allah’s Messenger sallahu alaihi wasalam said, “He who drinks in a silver utensil is only swallowing the fire of Hell in his stomach.”

However Narrated Anas bin malik, When the cup of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam was broken, he fixed it with a silver wire at the crack.

This hadith indicates that small amount of silver can be used in need such that to make it stronger.

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Narrated abu Tha’laba al Khusani : I said. “O Allah’s Messenger sallallahu alaihi wasalam, we are living in a land inhabited by the people of teh scriptures, can we eat from their utensils. He said (s.a.w.), Do not eat from their utensils unless you cannot find utensils other than theirs. Otherwise wash them and eat from them.”

It is preferred that you do not use the disbelievers utensils if you have a choice. having said that, prophet Mohammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam has accepted many invitations from the disbelievers and eaten at their place. This indicate that, one can still use their utensils.

However, if there is a choice, it is best to avoid using their utensils. Allah knows best.

Abu hurairah reported, Whenever Allah’s messenger sallallahu alaihi wasalam stood for Solah, he said Takbir on starting the solah and then on bowing. On raising from bowing) he said, “Sami Allahu liman hamidah’ and then while standing straight he used to say Rabbana lakalhamd. (Bukhari)

Raising Hands

Characteristics of Prayer

Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 12 :: Hadith 702

Narrated Salim bin ‘Abdullah:

My father said, “Allah’s Apostle used to raise both his hands up to the level of his shoulders when opening the prayer; and on saying the Takbir for bowing. And on raising his head from bowing he used to do the same and then say “Sami a-l-lahu Liman hamida, Rabbana walaka-l-hamd.” And he did not do that (i.e. raising his hands) in prostrations.

Characteristics of Prayer

Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 12 :: Hadith 703

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar:

I saw that whenever Allah’s Apostle stood for the prayer, he used to raise both his hands up to the shoulders, and used to do the same on saying the Takbir for bowing and on raising his head from it and used to say, “Sami a-l-lahu Liman hamida”. But he did not do that (i.e. raising his hands) in prostrations.

To say takbir in between the changes of postures is sunnah.
To raisehands in a few changing of postures is also sunnah but Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam raised hands for sayign takbeer in the following act
1. Takbirratul ihram
2. Going for ruku’
3. After ruku’ when we say Sami Allahu liman hamidah
4. The rising of the thrd rakaah after the first tashahud.

And we say Allah Akbar for every change of positions in solah except when rising from ruku’.